“Oh, I’m sorry, did I interrupt your work?” Her head snapped up and he could see she was trying to be tough, even though tears had started running down her cheeks.
“Yes, you did, as a matter of fact,” he spat back. “And I demand to know why. Why would you take money out of my wallet and cut school to come to the mall?” He took a step closer to her and lowered his voice. “Are you on drugs?” he asked. “Are you seeing someone? Your mother would not approve of that, you know. Are you—”
“No!” she almost yelled. “It’s not that.”
“Then what?” he asked.
Emmy looked around and her eyes widened.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” he shouted at the people who had blatantly stopped to look at the spectacle. “This has nothing to do with any of you!”
“Oh my God, this is so embarrassing,” he heard her groan again next to him.
“Car. Now!” He pointed at his car and she seemed only too happy to listen to him,this time. They climbed in and he slammed his door shut, feeling all sorts of emotions right now that he wasn’t sure he could name. Relief, anger, guilt . . .
“I can’t believe you did this.” He heard his voice come out loudly.
“Stop shouting at me. Stop shouting at me, just stop—” the feeble voice next to him said, and then she burst into tears. Loud, uncontrollable sobs.More guilt.He looked over at her and felt his heart break. She looked so sad, vulnerable and lost right now, but he didn’t know how to comfort her. He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. Trying to calm down. He closed his eyes and counted to ten in his head, and then slowly turned in his seat and faced her.
“Emmy, please tell me what is going on?” He spoke softly this time. She was still crying and he sat patiently waiting for her sobs to slow down and finally stop.
“I . . . I . . . can’t tell you,” she finally whimpered.
“What the hell do you—” he stopped immediately. “I’m sorry,” he corrected himself in a softer voice. “I didn’t mean to shout again, I was just . . .” He paused. He wasn’t good at expressing these kinds of emotions, but . . . “I was worried,” he said, his voice even softer this time. “I was really worried.”
His niece looked up at him with those blue eyes that were shining from the tears. It made his chest hurt to see her like this. “Please tell me,” he implored her, leaning forward.
She turned and looked away. Stared out the window as if she couldn’t look him in the eye anymore. As if she was embarrassed. She mumbled something so softly that he didn’t hear her.
“I couldn’t hear what you said.” He leaned in even closer.
“I need a bra.” She finally turned, but still didn’t look at him.
“A what?” He was caught off guard. “Why would you need a—” He stopped himself when he saw her pull her jumper across her chest self-consciously. “Oh,” he said flatly. This conversation was making him feel very uncomfortable. This was his little niece. He still remembered the day she was born, he still remembered her as a chubby, curly-haired toddler crawling around at his feet.How could she need a bra already?Where had the time gone, and what was he meant to do about it? This was so far above his pay grade, so out of his comfort zone, and he wished his sister was here right now. She would know what to do.
“Here.” She dug in her pocket and pulled out the wad of stolen notes. She thrust them towards him. “I tried to look for one the other day when we were here, but I didn’t know what to buy and I was too embarrassed to tell you so I just . . . just . . .”
She burst into tears again and this time he reached across the car and pulled her into his arms. She didn’t fight him but laid her head on his shoulder. He placed his hand on her back; it was heaving up and down as she whimpered. God, he loved her. He really did, he just wasn’t sure how he was meant to express all these emotions. His sister had been the emotional one, the heart to his head. That’s why they’d worked so well. She’d always known what he was feeling, he never needed to say it out loud.
“I wish Mom was here,” she mumbled into his shoulder.
“Me too,” he replied, and then they sat in silence together for a while until she pulled away and wiped her tears.
“Did you not get one?” he asked slowly, looking down at the money in his hand.
She shook her head. “It was too confusing, and the shop attendant wanted to measure me and I . . .” She pulled her jersey around herself again.
He nodded. Of course she didn’t get one. How could she buy a bra with a total stranger like that, all alone without anyone to help her? This was the kind of thing that a young girl needed to do with her mother, or another female relative at least. He cleared his throat. “Do you want me to call Grandma and—”
“No. No!” she quickly said. “Are you kidding? She still calls them ‘brassieres’ and you know her, she makes such a big deal about everything, she’ll just turn it into this big embarrassing scene! I mean, the other day she was so shocked when she saw my G-string. She didn’t even know what it was, and she was freaking out.”
“You have a G-string?” he asked suddenly.
She made a tutting sound. “Have you ever tried to wear full briefs with a pair of skinny jeans?”
“No,” he smiled at her, “I can’t say I have. But if I do ever want to wear skinny jeans, I’ll take that into account.”
They looked at each other and shared a small smile. His heart felt like it was swelling and about to explode out of his chest. He hadn’t shared a moment like this with her in a while.
